Tóibín’s Brooklyn: stars confirmed for film adaptation, which will shoot in Ireland in 2014

Project set to film in Ireland in 2014 with support from Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board.

Domhnall Gleeson (About Time, Sensation), Emory Cohen (The Place Beyond the Pines), Jim Broadbent (Cloud Atlas, The Iron Lady) and Julie Walters (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) will join Saoirse Ronan (How I Live Now, Byzantium) on the Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board (IFB) funded film Brooklyn.

Irish BAFTA-winning director John Crowley (Boy A, Intermission) will direct Nick Hornby’s adaptation of Tóibín’s acclaimed novel, which is being produced by Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey for Wildgaze (Quartet, An Education) and co–produced by Alan Moloney in Parallel Films (Albert Nobbs, Breakfast on Pluto, Intermission).

James Hickey, Chief Executive, Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board, said, “The Irish Film Board is delighted to be involved in the adaptation of Colm Tóibín’s awardwinning novel Brooklyn, which will feature Irish stars Saoirse Ronan and Domhnall Gleeson. We previously worked with John Crowley on his debut feature film, Intermission, and we are very much looking forward to the project filming on location in Ireland next year.”

The film follows Nora (Ronan), a young Irish woman who leaves her small town in Ireland hoping for a brighter future in 1950s Brooklyn. Despite her initial homesickness, she falls in love with Tony (Cohen) an Italian-American who opens her eyes her new surroundings. But a family tragedy leads Nora back to Ireland, where her American sophistication catches the eye of the charming Jim (Gleeson).

Producer Finola Dwyer said, “We are honoured to be bringing Colm’s modern Irish classic to the screen with Parallel Films and the support of the IFB, and excited to be working with the home-grown talents of Saoirse and Domnhall, in the expert hands of director John Crowley. Nick Hornby has masterfully captured Colm’s witty and insightful portrait of a young woman torn between two worlds, and we’re delighted by the international cast that has joined us, as well as our ambitious UK/Ireland distributor, Lionsgate.”

Brooklyn will be produced by Wildgaze Films and Parallel Films with finance from BBC Films and Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board. Hanway Films are handling international sales and Lionsgate will distribute in Ireland and the UK. The project was developed with funding from BBC Films and Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board.